I shot a couple matches with the club and was impressed with the amount of M1as and Garands on the line. I had a CMP special Garand I bought in 2007 and I also picked up a NM M1A a few weeks back. I decided to noodle around with some loads to prepare for some garand matches, and I also checked out the velocities on some HXP Greek surplus CMP stuff. Here is what I started with...on the low side to be safe.

You want those 168 SMKs to 2660 FPS and the 175 SMKs at 2580-2600 FPS, that'll assure you don't beat the crap out of your rifle and keep wear to the minimum.

The HXP is just standard Ball ammo w/ about a 2 MOA cone of fire. You're looking to get 1 MOA or better for ammo useful at 600 yds. Also, keep in mind that the HXP is a 150 gr. flat based projectile and will be moving faster "safer", thus the ~ 2700 FPS on your Chronograph.

The heavier the Projo the slower it will need to be moving to avoid problems with your old warhorses. BTW, don't go over 175 grs., you won't need it and the juice ain't worth the squeeze, as they say.

Once you are in the "speed range", shoot for groups with variations of powder in 0.2 gr increments from low to high. Measure groups and look for round patterns on the paper. Avoid loads that group in strings high to low, side to side or oblong; you want round ones. Take that load to the Range and shoot it across the course, if it still works, that's that rifle's "custom" or accuracy load.

This is also assuming you have all the same brass, prepped the same way. Consistency is the key. Do all your testing with one Lot of the same powder, different Lots of the same powder will have variations too.